Rich people, open up your eyes and hearts¹⁹

Four or five young boys belonged to a special club. Each day they went from door to door to collect material objects and money from people. They were taking up this collection so they could do things that would inspire the villagers to lead a better life and fight against the British Government. They put everything in a big bag and, at the end of the day, they brought the bag to their leader.

One day, a young lame boy came and joined them. At first they didn’t want to have a lame boy with them. They were singing songs to Krishna, saying, “O Krishna, you took the Pandavas’ side against the Kauravas and the Pandavas won. The British people are the Kauravas. Please take our side. With your help only will we be able to conquer the British rule.” They were singing this while walking along the street. The poor lame boy also joined them. Since he was singing so soulfully, they allowed him to follow them.

By the end of the day they had gone to many places. They were about to give the bag to the leader without looking inside to see what they had got. The young lame boy said, “I wish to see how much you have got.”

All the boys mocked at him, “You are such a greedy fellow. We never look to see how much we got. We just give the bag to the leader.”

The leader said, “Since the fellow is asking and he is lame, let us show him.”

Still the boys were laughing at him: “This is his sincere love for his country!”

While they were emptying the bag, the lame boy emptied his small bag and said, “Now I don’t have to see. I have seen everything.”

The boys saw that the lame boy had given what he had got from begging door to door for two or three days.

The leader said, “Look, he gave everything that he had and is. We go door to door, but sometimes people won’t give us anything. They are suffering so much from British rule, but even rich people give us next to nothing. If all India had a heart like this beggar, by today India would have been free.”

The leader ran and grabbed the lame boy and embraced him. “You have opened our eyes.”

The lame boy said, “Your heart, your eyes, everything are open. It is we who have to go from door to door now and open up the eyes and hearts of rich people.”